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You got a Degree in Health Administration – Now What?

Recent transformations within the health care industry have given healthcare executives the opportunity to consider more diverse career options. An increase in the shift from medical procedures being done in a hospital setting to them being performed in private practices has created the need for health services administrators to manage these practices as successful businesses.

What is Health Services Administration?

Healthcare administration careers integrate business, policy and science to manage the fiscal and human resources that are necessary to deliver valuable health services.

If you choose this profession, you could work in resource development, administration or in public or private sectors. Although health services administrators frequently find employment in hospitals and medical centers, there are opportunities in nursing homes, retirement communities, and physician practices.

Entry and Mid-Level Management Positions:

If you decide on a career in healthcare management, you may begin your career in an entry- or mid-level management position.

This position may concentrate on a specific area, such as:

Government relations

Finance

Human resources

Nursing administration

Medical staff relations

Patient care services

According to a healthcare study, these professionals spend a great deal of time, and place a high value on, problem solving, communicating, collaborations with other disciplines, making decisions, containing costs, and developing their staff’s skills.

Career Options for Health Service Administration Graduates:

1. The “Traditional” Administrator

Individuals who begin their health administration career with an associate’s degree frequently find employment as traditional administrators. These administrators order supplies and organize schedules. They also navigate medical software to bill patients, access patient records, and perform other management functions.

2. Assistant Manager/Administrator

An experienced administrator may be given the responsibility of overseeing a facility’s employees, finances, and procedures. This allows health administrators to obtain higher paying positions.

Responsibilities will include:

Balancing each department’s budget

Managing group practices with numerous locations

Reviewing projects

It is also possible to find an assistant manager position with a nonprofit group, a local health agency, as well as with a state or national health agency.

3. Clinical Research Manager

Reinforcement from scientific advancements has helped the field of clinical research continue to grow. The complexity of clinical research requires coordination of researchers, study participants, physicians and pharmaceutical executives.

Federal oversight measures must also be addressed. Individuals who choose to pursue a degree in health service administration and become clinical research managers must also be proficient with financial management and budget planning.

Social media campaigns and public relations are a fundamental aspect of the healthcare business. To become a social media director, PR specialist, or health facility marketing manager, health administration students need to study health marketing or health communications.

5. Nursing Home Administration

To become an administrator in a nursing home, you should consider taking courses in gerontology. Courses such as this can help prepare you for the administration aspect of your career, as well as offer you insight into the special needs of the patients you are helping.

6. Clinical Leader/Manager

A professional that has knowledge relating to a specific clinical area is referred to as a clinical leader or clinical manager. Specific clinical areas include neonatal care and radiology. Once a clinician earns their health administration leadership degree, they may be hired as a clinical leader in their department.

7. Health Information Managers

Health information managers are responsible for maintaining and securing patients’ electronic medical records. These managers may also supervise a team of medical coding employees or work with IT professionals to make sure that all the records are legally compliant, accurate, and easily accessible.

The field of healthcare management requires talented individuals who can assist in introducing and managing the many changes that are taking place within the healthcare industry. As a healthcare executive, you can make a substantial contribution to improve the health of the residents in the communities you serve.

Journey from Clinician to Administrator: Advancing in Healthcare Administration

Neel Pathak, an MHA graduate, has eight years of progressive management experience in diverse settings, including major health systems, healthcare associations, accrediting organizations, and academic institutions. He is a skilled clinician, an experienced administrator, and a strong advocate of initiatives in process excellence. He also serves as a Baldrige Examiner for state and national levels. His unconventional career path, he says, was shaped by earning his MHA degree online at The University of Scranton. Read on to learn how he’s impacted patient care on national and regional levels.

How did you decide on a career in the healthcare field?

I’ve had an interest in the healthcare field since high school. I’m originally from India and I spent a year and a half practicing as a clinician—a physical therapist. Though I loved being a clinician, I had an insider’s look at the management activities of the clinic. That sparked my interest to learn more about the business and delivery of healthcare. That interest motivated me to move to the United States to pursue a program in healthcare administration.

What made you choose The University of Scranton?

It was the combination of having all the right elements in one place. First, I wanted to attend a program that was strong academically and demanded an administrative residency or fellowship so I could gain more first-hand experience in the field. Second, I only looked at CAHME-accredited programs because I knew that meant the rigor, integrity, and quality of my education was ensured. I was able to have a phone interview with the program director, Dr. West, while I was still in India researching schools. He’s also a member of CAHME’s Board of Directors, so I knew I was talking to an extremely knowledgeable professor—and we really connected! I appreciated the personal and student-centric approach. It seemed like the perfect fit.

How did you find your residency/fellowship?

Scranton’s MHA program provided multiple resources early in the program that helped orient me with the residency/fellowship process. Current students in those phases spoke with us about their experiences. We were encouraged to join the American College of Healthcare Executives, which in turn offered seminars and education regarding fellowships. Faculty advisors were familiar with our goals and matched us with appropriate residency and fellowship opportunities. I knew these are very competitive and it was important to me to find the right option to better understand the healthcare delivery system in its entirety, from strategy to operations and front-line management.

Where did you complete your residency?

I was selected for the Aramark Healthcare Administrative Fellowship and placed at OhioHealth, a health system headquartered in Columbus, OH. This was a unique opportunity to get exposure to two different organizations. Aramark sponsored the healthcare fellowship and the selected fellows were paired with a client organization. Aramark’s philosophy “Everything’s Connected” gave us a unique vantage point in understanding the day-to-day operations of a hospital or healthcare system from not just a practice management standpoint, but also from a service and patient-experience standpoint.

They selected five fellows from across the nation, and I was paired with the senior vice president of support services at OhioHealth. While I was there, I worked on projects in eight different hospitals. They included strategy development and planning for a new neuroscience building, quality and process improvement initiatives, physician-practice management projects, and revenue-cycle management initiatives, among others.

Throughout my fieldwork, I was able to attend industry conferences like the American College of Healthcare Executives Leadership Congress, the American Hospital Association’s Leadership Summit, and the National Association of Health Services Executives Conference.

Because of the unique fellowship structure, Aramark was also able to leverage other healthcare clients in their network to offer us unique observation opportunities at leading healthcare organizations like the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, MD Anderson Cancer Institute, and Texas Children’s Hospital, among others.

How did you transition from an administrative fellow to a research/program specialist at the American Hospital Association?

I wanted to explore different settings in the healthcare industry and build upon my quality improvement experience. I got an opportunity with the American Hospital Association (AHA) in Chicago—they advocate for 5,000 hospitals and healthcare systems across the country.

I worked on The CUSP: STOP CAUTI project with Health Research and Educational Trust—the research arm of the AHA. The project specifically focused on reducing catheter-associated urinary tract infections across the country.

We had a national team of experts who provided leadership and guidance on content. In addition, we worked with state hospital associations to get their buy-in and assist them in their journey to reduce hospital-acquired infections. We collected, analyzed, and reported the data on a national level to identify trends and assisted individual hospitals through their state’s hospital associations by sharing best practices.

I’m proud to report that we saw a significant reduction in hospital-acquired infections throughout the project, saving millions of lives and millions of dollars.

After the AHA, you took an opportunity with CAHME. What was that experience like?

Right after my time with AHA, an opportunity with the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME) came along. While I was still a student, I worked with Dr. West on a small project with them. When I saw CAHME had a position open for a director of business and development, I knew it would be a great learning opportunity. And it was! CAHME taught me more about business development and I was proud that they ensure the future generations of healthcare leaders are training appropriately.

During my time at CAHME, we made our business processes more efficient by leveraging the right technologies and moving to a cloud-based environment. By using tools like Box, Salesforce, Office 365, and Constant Contact, we improved our day-to-day processes and provided better value for our programs.

This experience of improving quality on a national scale taught me a lot about teamwork and further fueled my passion for quality and process improvement. I launched a signature program—the CAHME Awards—which recognizes organizations that are going above and beyond meeting accreditation standards and are doing exceptionally well. The awards program is very successful and is sponsored by leading healthcare organizations like Modern Healthcare, Ascension, Cerner, Canon, and Baylor Scott & White Health.

The University of Scranton just won the CAHME CANON Award. Is that part of this project you worked on?

Yes! The full name of the award is Canon Solutions America Award for Sustainability in Healthcare Management Education and Practice. As its name suggests, the award serves to incorporate the ideals of sustainability in future healthcare leaders. It recognizes the significant influence of education programs in creating sustainable, inclusive, and socially responsible healthcare organizations. I’m very glad that Scranton won that award!

What do you do in your current role in Ambulatory Services Administration at the Johns Hopkins Hospital?

We have a state‐of‐the‐art outpatient center with over 60 clinics, providing 20 ancillary services, and serving about 650,000 patient visits annually. I’m a project administrator in the Ambulatory Services department. My role is to serve as an internal change-management consultant by planning, directing, and implementing projects to improve quality, operations, efficiency, access, delivery, and experience of care for ambulatory patients. We use innovative technologies and business-intelligence tools with Epic and Tableau to make data-driven decisions.

After my time with CAHME, I wanted to explore the ambulatory and practice management setting further. This opportunity with Johns Hopkins, which has been ranked the number one hospital in the country for more than 20 straight years, has been a dream come true in experience and learning.

Are there any projects that stand out in your experiences in ambulatory services administration?

I serve as the Patient Experience Lead for Ambulatory Services. At Johns Hopkins, we have a really strong focus on providing the best possible care in the best possible place. It is challenging to provide that seamless experience in a complex academic medical center environment.

We created an executive council to set goals and provide leadership and mentorship for all aspects of patient experience. We also created a coordinating committee—the working arm that digs deep into the patient-experience data points: Current processes and challenges, workflows, and sharing of best practices to improve care delivery and experience. We look at our scores and compare them to national benchmarks to see what’s working and what we can do to deliver a better experience.

We discuss these results with our clinical care teams to find opportunities for improvement together. We have gained a lot of traction on this and our clinics are highly engaged in this journey. I’m very proud of that.

It sounds like a lot of data and analytics go into your role. Was that something you learned in Scranton’s MHA program? Or is it more on-the-job learning?

There was a lot of emphasis on data in the program, beyond just understanding the foundation of data and finances. We focused on evidence-based decision-making in the MHA program. That being said, I think there are always skills and nuances you have to learn on the job. I’m a graduate of the Leadership and Excellence in Analytics and Data Science (LEADS) program at Johns Hopkins, which focuses on teaching professionals how to use data in their decision-making.

Congratulations on your appointment to the Baldrige Board of Examiners! How did you become involved with the Board?

I was first introduced to the Baldrige criteria while at the AHA. I talked to a few members who completed the examiner training and studied the Baldrige approach and criteria. What I liked about their approach is that it’s not prescriptive and not built for a specific health system with exactly 200 beds. It’s for anyone looking to improve their performance: A hospital, nonprofit, city, or small business. The Baldrige criteria can adapt to these unique situations.

I was selected for the state examiner role after my training opportunity. A few years later, I applied for the national level and became the national examiner.

I review applications for the Baldrige award—a prestigious presidential award that demands a very rigorous process. Baldrige is administered by the National Institute of Standards and Technology from the U.S. Department of Commerce. The Baldrige criteria encourages applicants to think about their processes and the results from an organizational viewpoint. This, in turn, stimulates conversations about improvement strategies.

How long do you serve as examiner?

The Baldrige examiner term is for one year. You need to reapply again to serve on the Board and go through the training.

You’ve had many high-level positions. Do you think your clinical background helped you get to where you are today?

Yes, it certainly helped! My clinical background coupled with administrative experiences helps me better understand operational issues. It leads to a better vantage point in decision-making. When I was treating patients, I made one-on-one decisions regarding their care. Now the decisions I make affect patients on a larger scale. I have to be mindful of that fact and ensure each decision I make is ultimately patient-centric.

What advice would you give someone looking to move up in the healthcare field, even without that clinical background?

First, you can still succeed in this field without having a clinical background. What you must have top of mind at all times is a focus on quality patient care. With that, you can achieve your goals.

My second piece of advice to anyone looking to advance in healthcare is don’t limit yourself. Take advantage of how broad and diverse the healthcare field is to understand the levels of patient care in multiple settings. There are hospitals, outpatient settings, nursing homes, insurance companies, retail clinics—the opportunities are endless, so branch out.

You’re now involved with current students as a mentor. How did that come about?

I remember when mentors helped shape and guide my decisions as a student. I want to ensure our current students have that same opportunity, and so I serve as an external/alumni mentor for many students in the Scranton MHA program.

We also created The University of Scranton MHA Alumni Society. I serve as one of the board officers and make sure we give back to the Scranton MHA program in as many ways as we can. We meet on a monthly basis and talk through how to improve relationships with current students and re-engage past alumni to better the program.

Put Your Passion For Helping Patients To Work

Discover how you can manage healthcare processes, provide the best possible care, or build on a strong business background that helps a community of patients with The University of Scranton’s Master of Health Administration program today.

Common Mission Builds Lasting Relationship

The nearly 30-year relationship between The University of Scranton’s Panuska College of Professional Studies’ Health Administration Program and St. Elizabeth University of Health and Social Work and Trnava University, Slovak Republic, has resulted in numerous faculty and student exchanges that have benefited both the education of health care providers and the care of patients across the globe.From left, University of Scranton President Rev. Scott R. Pilarz, S.J., met with Most Reverend Viliam Judak, Bishop of the Diocese of Nitra, Slovak Republic, and Monsignor Martin Stofko, Diocese of Nitra, Slovak Republic, during a recent visit to Scranton.

Castles built in stone will surely last longer than those made of sand. The same can be true of relationships. Those built on a solid foundation, such as a shared mission, would surely be best suited to stand the test of time.

For nearly 30 years, The University of Scranton has enjoyed just such a relationship with St. Elizabeth University of Health and Social Work, a Catholic college in Bratislava, Slovak Republic, and Trnava University, Trnava, Slovak Republic.

A recent visit to Scranton by Most Reverend Viliam Judak, Bishop of the Diocese of Nitra, Slovak Republic, and Monsignor Martin Stofko, Diocese of Nitra, Slovak Republic, highlights the common foundation and strong bonds shared by Scranton and St. Elizabeth University and Catholic church in the former communist state.

“St. Elizabeth University was created as a private Catholic university so that they could serve the poor both in Slovakia and also communities external to Slovakia,” said Daniel J. West Jr., Ph.D., professor and chair of Scranton’s Department of Health Administration and Human Resources.

St. Elizabeth University offers bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral level education in numerous health related fields and has more than 40 science-pedagogical facilities in more than 20 countries. The partnership between the Panuska College of Professional Studies’ Health Administration Program and the Catholic institution has brought numerous faculty and student exchanges that have benefited both the education of health care providers and the care of patients across the globe.

In addition to its educational mission, St. Elizabeth University actively serves the sick and poor irrespective of the race, nationality and religious orientation, in the Slovak Republic, as well as through its health, humanitarian, social, charitable and missionary facilities in Ukraine, Cambodia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Sudan, Nairobi, Haiti and a dozen other countries.

Scranton – with a commitment to provide a transformational educational experience to our students that is engaged, integrated and global – has partnered with St. Elizabeth’s to provide experiences abroad for our Master in Health Administration (MHA) students.

“When I first started at Scranton a few decades ago, less than 1 percent of our students traveled abroad,” said Dr. West. “Now about 25 percent of students do. We need to have the relationships to allow this to happen with partners we trust. It’s the human element that is so important.”

Dr. West said the relationship with St. Elizabeth has developed “block by block” over time, recalling that the University though its numerous efforts in Haiti, introduced St. Elizabeth University to the many needs of the poor of the that nation. Subsequently, St. Elizabeth’s has started two health care projects in Haiti, one in the north and one in the south.

“I went to Haiti to help with the children,” said Monsignor Stofko. “I also went to Kenya and Uganda. This is the way we continued to work with the University and work with the students.”

Dr. West said the University has worked “hand-in-hand” with St. Elizabeth’s and the Church in Slovakia. This relationship extends to publishing, research and international presentations. Faculty from Slovakia contributed to four chapters of Dr. West’s most recent book “The Global Healthcare Manager: Competencies, Concepts and Skills.”

But, Dr. West said it is the students that ultimately benefit the most from the relationship.

“Each time our MHA students visit St. Elizabeth’s in Bratislava, we also visit some area around the city. One area we always visit is Nitra and when we visit, the Bishop invites us to his table, which is really in a very large castle. He allows us to tour a museum that not everyone has the chance to see,” said Dr. West.

This year, two groups of MHA students will travel to St. Elizabeth’s in the spring semester.

Students will see first-hand the lasting strength of castles built of stone – and of partnerships formed on a solid foundation.

Stay Sustainable, Stay Relevant

The University of Scranton’s Master in Health Administration (MHA) program was nationally recognized by The Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME) and Canon Solutions America for its sustainability initiatives in the context of corporate responsibility and Jesuit pedagogy. The University’s MHA program received the prestigious CAHME/Canon Award for Sustainability in Healthcare Management Education and Practice at the March 25th CACHE Congress in Chicago.

Each year, CAHME recognizes excellence in graduate healthcare management education with CAHME- accredited programs and in partnership with leading healthcare organizations. These valued programs are recognized for driving innovation, improving the student experience, and expanding the presence of graduate healthcare management education. Now in its second year, the CAHME/Canon Solutions America Award for Sustainability in Healthcare Management Education and Practice focuses on recognizing universities that are committed to pushing public health forward through dynamic and diverse sustainability-driven activities with proven results.

The University MHA program links sustainability with social justice, public health, and health disparities through alumni engagement, international experiences, and community project work.

“Global and environmental health issues are complex and universities teaching future leaders in healthcare, as well as corporations serving in this field, have a responsibility to ethically and effectively address health issues. As educators at a Jesuit university, we take this responsibility very seriously and are deliberate in our efforts to teach our students to be leaders in addressing issues of social justice and sustainability in order to better serve all people, and especially to care for those who are the most vulnerable,” said Debra Pellegrino, Ed.D., dean of the Panuska College of Professional Studies, which houses the health administration program at Scranton. “We are grateful CAHME and Canon are taking the lead in recognizing sustainability in health administration programs with this award, which is so important for the future of healthcare, and we are honored that the University was selected to receive the 2018 award.”

“We are so grateful for Canon’s support of this award, as it recognizes programs that are advancing the quality of graduate healthcare management education,” said Anthony Stanowski, DHA, president and CEO of CAHME in a news release announcing the award. “Canon is an important partner in this work.”

“It’s an honor to announce The University of Scranton Master in Health Administration as our 2018 Sustainability in Healthcare award winner,” said Peter Kowalczuk, president of Canon Solutions America. “Together with CAHME, we are truly committed to helping improve the quality in academic healthcare management education and promoting continuous evolution in the preparation of future healthcare leaders. Canon Solutions America congratulates The University of Scranton on this great achievement and we look forward to their program pushing personal and professional growth for its students while embracing diversity in the health education community.”

According to CAHME, the mission of the University’s master in health administration program helped to secure the award. The program’s mission is to provide local, regional and international students a comprehensive and interdisciplinary set of core competencies and values for health administration jobs in a variety of healthcare organizations. Additionally, the program contributes scholarship to its disciplines, especially applied research, publications and presentations.

The innovative curriculum of the University’s MHA program includes a “Fit for the Profession” component to ensure readiness for profession, said Steven Szydlowski, D.H.A., program director of the University’s MHA program. In addition, sustainability components imbedded in the curriculum include administrative residency project for sustainability in healthcare as part of the program’s 8-credit Administrative Residency course (HAD 581), which is required course for all MHA students. Dr. Szydlowski said projects cover global, environmental, financial, social sustainable issues and involve developing and implementing a sustainability project in an applied healthcare setting. Elements of sustainability are also addressed in other elective courses, as well as through other initiatives such as study abroad experiences.

To learn more about the MHA Program at the University of Scranton, click here.

CAHME is an interdisciplinary group of educational, professional, clinical, and other health sector organizations devoted to quality improvement of education for healthcare management and administration professionals. Additionally, CAHME accreditation establishes the standard of measurement of graduate healthcare management education for the world community.